


Tomorrow Will Come, Tomorrow Won‘t Come

by jusains



Category: Black Friday Musical, The guy who didn‘t like musicals
Genre: Apocalypse, Life is a mess and so is Henry, M/M, after Black Friday, this was an anon request on tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:48:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23118730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jusains/pseuds/jusains
Summary: This is set in Black Friday.Henry and Ted have a thing and Henry kinda theorised this apocalypse as well.Ted goes to the Lakeside Mall on the Shopping day from hell and Henry stays at home, worried.Then Ted comes back, bringing a bunch of strangers who are looking for shelter.This was an anon request on tumblr, so Anon if you’re out there, I hope you enjoy this
Relationships: Tedgens - Relationship, will tag more as soon as I know what the fuck will happen in this
Comments: 24
Kudos: 104





	1. Did You Ever Watch Your Life Slide Out Of Your Hands?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:  
> \- food mention (mention of not having eaten)  
> \- death mention

Henry wakes up to Ted hastily getting dressed. 

He groans quietly, rubbing his eyes. The sun hasn’t even risen yet. 

“How a clock is it?”, he mumbles into the pillow. 

Ted flinched when Henry started to speak.

“Five.” 

“AM?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Good god.” 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. I didn’t even mean to fall asleep, actually.” 

He reaches for his tie now, tying it around his neck. 

“You can stay, you know? I don’t mind.” 

“I have to leave.” 

“You can at least stay until sunrise.” 

“Getting attached, Professor?” 

Henry blushes. 

The truth is that yes, he’s very much in love with Ted. 

He shouldn’t be.

“No”, he lies, “I just don’t understand why you would leave in the middle of the night.” 

“I have a life, you know? I have places to be.”

“At five am?” 

“Yes.” 

“You’re not going along with the Black Friday mania, are you?” 

Ted doesn’t answer, silently slipping into his socks. 

Henry sits up in bed, getting worried now. 

“Ted I told you about my theorie-“ 

“I respect that you have a degree in biologie, but I think your theorie is a little far off reality.” 

“Please don’t go to the lakeside mall.” 

“You really believe there’s going to be a massacre? Come on.” 

Henry hesitates.  
Who is he to tell Ted to stay? Ted is not going to listen to him anyway.

“Relax. Those dreams you had are just dreams. I’ll be fine.” 

“Ted-“ 

“Hen, it’s gonna be fine.” 

Henry shuts up, biting his lip now. 

Ted looks up. 

“Hey”, he says, before he comes over to him, sitting on the edge of the bed. 

Henry pushes himself further towards Ted, reaching for his tie to pull him closer.

He slowly lets his lips drop in Teds neck, placing kisses there. 

“Stay?”, he quietly asks. 

He sees the shadow of a smile on Teds face . 

“Very tempting”, Ted whispers, his voice cracking in a way that tells Henry that Ted does mean what he says. 

“Stay. You can do your Christmas shopping tomorrow”, Henry murmurs, hoping that this is it, that he won. 

But no he didn’t. Good god is Ted resistant. 

He gently pushes Henry off. 

“I’ll be fine. I promise.” 

“You can’t promise, you don’t know that.” 

“I do. I know nothing will happen.” 

Ted gets up now, walking in the direction of the door. 

“Wait”, Henry panics, ”Can you at least call me?”

Ted stops, turning around once more. “What? Why?” 

“Just call me tonight? So I know you’re not dead.” 

“You’re overreacting.” 

“Ted please. Texting is fine too.”

“Why would you worry about me anyway?”

“Well I do.” 

“You know that we’re not dating right?” 

“Yeah”, Henry fumbles out. 

“So don’t act like we are.” 

“I’m not.” 

“We’re nothing. And if you don’t like what we’re doing here, there’s the door.” He gestures behind himself. 

Henry tries to not look too hurt at that. He knows what this is. No strings attached. _He knows_.

That didn’t stop him from falling for Ted though. 

Maybe it’s the way Ted sometimes holds him, when they’re still laying in bed for a bit afterwards, too lazy to get up. The way Teds moustache tickles his neck or his laugh, rare but gorgeous. 

Or the way Ted is always gentle, always careful with Henry, touching him like he might break. 

Ted doesn’t seem like the gentle kind of guy, so the first time he showed that side, Henry was utterly surprised. But he can’t deny that he fell in love with Teds careful way of handling things, of handling Henry. 

Or maybe it’s just the fact that Henry has been alone for so long, maybe he’s so touch starved that he just fell for the first person to be sort of affectionate towards him in years. 

They met at Emma’s birthday. 

Emma talked Henry into coming, because he’s “too shut off in his fucking panic room”. 

So he came. 

And he drank some alcohol. 

Not too much, not so much that he lost control. Just enough to gain some courage. 

And when Ted started to flirt with him, he went along and they went to Henrys place together and afterwards they decided to keep going, both of them desperate for at least some kind of intimacy. 

And this is where they ended up. After two months of fooling around, Henry is completely and utterly in love with Ted. And Ted doesn‘t seem to care at all. Which is fine because that was the deal.  


It still hurts when he says it out loud. They‘re _nothing_. 

Maybe Henry should tell Ted about his feelings, tell him it was an accident, he didn’t mean to fall.

Maybe he should suggest that they stop. Because this isn‘t good for him, he knows it. He just keeps hurting himself every time he lets Ted into his house and his bedroom.   


Ted sighs now, maybe having noticed that he went too far with his words. 

“I’ll text you. Okay?”, he gives in. 

Henry nods lightly. 

“Thank you”, he mumbles. 

“See you, yeah?” 

Henry nods again. 

“See you”, he says. 

Then Ted leaves, the bedroom door falling shut behind him. 

— 

Henry spends the day rather worried. 

He feels like he lost Ted that morning, when he walked out of the door. 

And that’s kind of ridiculous, considering that Henry never had Ted. But still. 

Henry keeps the radio running, just to stay up with the news. 

They call it the Black Friday from hell. People locked down the lakeside mall and god knows what’s going on inside. 

Someone even nuked Moscow. 

Henry knew this would happen. 

People are going crazy and people died. 

Ted died, probably. He must have.

Henry tried to call him and he texted him, knowing very well that Ted is probably not going to appreciate Henry being so overly worried again. 

But he couldn’t help it. 

He is worried. 

He is so worried. 

Henry should have made him stay, he should have tried harder. He didn’t try hard enough, it’s his fault. Ted is dead and it’s Henrys fault. 

The sound of the radio flickers and cuts off at around eleven pm, statically whirring from then on. 

Henry sits on his couch and stares at it, getting annoyed by the sound but doing nothing about it.

He clasps his hands together when they start to shake until he just buries his face in them.

This is hell. 

Ted still didn’t text him. He should be home by now, shouldn’t he?

He must be dead. 

— 

He gives up on waiting a little after midnight. 

He’ll go and look for Ted. 

He should have went so much earlier, he should already be at the mall by now. 

Henry knows that Ted is a grown man and he can look after himself but Henry also knows that there’s something bigger, something dangerous coming and it doesn’t matter if someone is a grown-up. This thing is going to destroy more than only the weak. 

Exhaustion took over his body at this point and he downs some water, in hopes that it will make him feel better. 

He didn’t eat much that day, just crunching on old cookies when his belly roared a little too loud. 

He didn’t have time, he had to stare out of the window and call Ted over and over again.

He slips into his jacket and then ends up fumbling with his shoelaces for way too long, since his hands are shaking too much for him to get some kind of knot done. 

Maybe he should have eaten more. 

Henry opens the door now. 

“Alexa”, he says, staring at the big gate in front of his house. 

He swallows, while Alexa quietly chimes. 

“Open the gates.” 


	2. You Wish You Never Had

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bribe Guy’s name is Jack here as well bc Miles named him that and I agreed

The gate ratters open, slowly and loudly. 

Henry hesitates before he turns back into the corridor and goes for the shotgun, hidden in a chest in his bureau. 

He’s usually against weapons but he feels like this is necessary. The threat is bigger than something that can be solved with words. Some firepower is not going to hurt if he wants to save Ted. 

He goes back to the door, the shotgun in one hand. 

The gate is open by now and Henry can see a bus coming closer from afar. 

In fact, it’s a school bus.

And whoever is driving it, isn’t driving it very good. 

The bus thunders through the gate, coming to a screeching stop right in front of Henry, blowing up a cloud of dirt. 

Henry raises the shotgun, unable to see who’s in the bus, too blinded by the bright headlights. 

The door opens and Henry steps closer, readying himself to shoot. 

Then Emma jumps out. 

“Professor!” 

Henry hesitates, letting the shotgun sink a little. 

“Emma”, he whispers. 

“Thank god you’re here”, she says. 

“I live here. Where are you coming from?” 

“The mall! We had to get Tom because Tim wouldn’t go without him and we met a few more people-“ 

“Where did you get that bus?” 

“We stole it.” 

He nods lightly. What else? 

There’s movement in his peripheral vision and Henry points the shotgun in that direction, mostly out of reflex. 

His eyes hit Teds and Ted hesitates, before he puts up his hands, as if to surrender. 

“I guess I deserve that”, he says, nodding towards the shotgun. 

Henry nearly starts to cry. 

Ted is alive. Ted is _here_. 

Henry has to restrain himself to not run at Ted and kiss him right then and there. He’s not that pathetic. 

But good god does it feel good to see him alive. 

“You’re alive”, Henry mumbles, lowering the shotgun again. 

“My phone died.” 

Is this an apology for not texting? 

It must be. 

“Okay.” 

“I wanted to text you. All the phones went out.” 

“It’s fine, Ted.” 

“You guys know each other?”, Emma asks now. 

Henry and Ted just kind of freeze for a moment, neither of them willing to explain what they have been doing for the past two months. 

“We don’t. Not really”, Henry says, “We’re nothing.” 

Ted lightly tilts his head. “We met at your birthday”, he then says. 

“How many people did you bring?”, Henry changes the topic. 

It must be quite a few, considering they stole a school bus to carry them all. 

“It was Perkins idea”, Ted says. 

“Fuck you”, Emma mumbles. 

“Hey Professor”, Paul says now, jumping out of the bus as well. “We’re twelve. Mr Davidson went home to his wife and Oliver wanted to go home too.” 

Henry has no clue who these people are so he just nods. 

“Twelve”, he whispers. 

That should work. 

“Come in.” 

He steps aside and waits for all the people to leave the bus, swarming into his house now. 

As soon as all of them are inside, it’s just him, Ted and Emma left.

“Emma can you show them to the living room?”, Henry asks. 

She nods, before she goes inside as well. 

So that leaves Ted and Henry. 

“Hen?” 

“Don’t.” 

Henry can’t take this anymore. Being worried about someone who doesn’t care at all. He doesn’t want Ted to give him nicknames anymore, it hurts. 

“Can we talk?”, Ted asks. 

“About what?” 

“Us.” 

“No.” 

“Please.” 

“Not right now. I have to figure out how to deal with twelve people in my house first.” 

“I’m sorry about what I said this morning.” 

“Okay.” 

“It’s just-“ 

“Later, Ted. Okay?” 

Ted gives up and nods. 

“Come inside”, Henry says, holding the door open for Ted. 

Ted steps inside and Henry closes the door. 

“Alexa, close the gates.” 

She does. 

— 

Henry and Ted find the others in the living room. 

There’s Paul and Emma and Henry even recognises Charlotte and Bill, another two of Teds coworkers. They were on Emma’s birthday as well. Then there’s seven strangers. 

There’s two girls, sisters maybe. One of them, the older one, is crying. 

“Are you alright?”, Henry carefully asks. 

She shakes her head. “My boyfriend died today.” 

Oh. Maybe he shouldn’t have asked. 

Because what is he supposed to say now? 

“I’m sorry”, is what he settles on. 

She seems so young. Her boyfriend must have been around that age too. 

So actual children died. 

Henry tries to calm himself down and not freak out. He lets his gaze wander through the room, looking at all the strangers and trying to find out whether or not he knows some of them. 

His gaze is caught by something moving in the pocket of one of the men. 

“Is that a squirrel?” 

The man nods. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t leave him out there. He is well behaved though.” 

“Okay. That’s okay.” 

He hesitates now, thinking for a moment. 

“Okay, who are you all?” 

“I’m Ed”, the man with the squirrel says. 

“Jack”, says the man next to him. 

“I’m Lex”, says the crying girl, “and this is my sister Hannah.” 

Henry nods, looking at the man who’s holding a young boys hand.

“Tom”, he says, “and that’s my son Tim.” 

“I’m Becky”, the red-haired woman next to him says. 

“Okay”, Henry says, “I know the rest of you.” 

Bill, who had already opened his mouth closes it now. 

Henry notices Ted step next to him, a little too close for them to barely know each other. Henry also notices how Emma notices, a frown framing her expression. 

Henry quickly starts talking again, not eager for Emma to know about him and Ted. Especially since it’s basically over. Henry will end this later. 

“I have three more rooms with a king sized bed in each. The couch pulls out as well. I can get more mattresses from the basement. Is that alright?” 

They all nod. 

“Thank you, Professor, this means a lot”, Becky says.

Henry just waves her off. 

“Figure out who shares a room with whom, alright? I will go and get the mattresses.” 

They nod again.

Henry turns to go when Ted decides: “I’ll help you!” 

Henry nods lightly, too exhausted to tell him no and also too exhausted to carry the mattresses up the stairs alone. 


	3. But All Of That’s In The Past

They walk in silence at first. 

Henry opens the door to the basement and turns on the light, constantly feeling Teds eyes on the back of his head. 

He goes down the stairs, Ted following closely.

Henry stops, looking at the four mattresses leaning against the wall. 

“Three should be enough”, he says, not really expecting an answer but sick of the silence. 

He feels Teds hand on his as Ted pulls himself closer to Henry, turning him around. Henry lets him do it, mostly because he’s confused about where this is going. 

Ted wraps his arms around his waist now and rests his head against his shoulder. 

“I’m so sorry”, he whispers in the crook of Henrys neck. 

Henry is a little too overwhelmed. Ted has never shown affection like this and he’s not the kind of person who apologises, he’s too proud for that. 

“Pardon me?”, Henry therefore mumbles, unsure if he understood. 

“You were right and I was wrong, I’m sorry.” 

“Why are you saying this now?” 

“Hen, I nearly died today. And all I could think about was how much I wanted to be back here and hold you and tell you-..” 

He stops there, pulling back to look at Henry now. His hands sneak up to Henrys face, holding it. 

Henry says nothing at first, still overwhelmed because Ted seems nearly frantic, desperate. 

Ted seems like he cares. 

“I’m not mad at you because you didn’t believe me”, Henry then says. 

“But you are mad at me?” 

Henry shrugs. 

A little mad at least. 

But he’s also not that mad because how could he ever be mad at Ted? He loves him and he nearly lost him. All he wants to do is pull him close and hold him now. 

“I’d get it if you were, because.. I went too far this morning.” 

“It’s okay.” 

“It’s not. I hurt you.” 

Henry shrugs lightly. 

“You did”, he admits. 

“I wish I hadn’t said that. I wish I could take it back.” 

“You didn’t mean it?” 

“No. Shit, no.” 

It’s quiet for a while. 

Henry hesitantly pulls back, needing some space to think. He feels nauseous, suddenly. 

“Are you alright?”, Ted asks. 

Henry shakes his head. “I don’t know.” 

He’s hungry and tired and sad and mad and god know what else. 

“We should probably get those mattresses upstairs”, Ted starts. 

“I’m in love with you”, Henry admits at the same time. 

It’s quiet afterwards. 

Ted just stares at him, not surprised, not exactly shocked, but scared, maybe.

“I know”, he then says, “I think I’ve known for a while.”

“Why didn’t you end it then?” 

“Because I didn’t want it to stop.” 

“So you don’t mind me being in love with you?” 

“Don’t get me wrong. It scares the shit out of me.” 

“Why? You can just run. I’m the one who’ll end up getting hurt.” 

“No I can’t just fucking run. The fact that you love me means that you reciprocate-.. I can’t just ignore my feelings for you anymore if you feel the same.” 

“Feelings for me?” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“You have feelings for me?” 

“You can do a lot better than some sleazeball. I’m not even good at this.” 

“Good at what?” 

“Relationships.” 

“You’d want one? With me?” 

“Why are you so surprised?” 

“Well I thought we were nothing.” 

“I’m sorry. I regret saying that. I really didn’t mean it. It was rude.” 

“Yeah, it was.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

Henry doesn’t know what to do. 

After about a minute of his mind being an utter chaos, he settles on reaching for Teds hand, his gaze still fixed on the floor because he doesn’t dare to look at him. 

He notices Ted look up in his peripheral vision. He can feel Teds eyes on him. 

“I’m in love with you too”, Ted says after a while. 

Henry looks up, just to make sure Ted means it. He looks so sincere. Honest and scared. “Are you sure?”, he asks. 

“Yes.”

Henry nods lightly, unable to function for a moment as it all breaks down over him. He could have lost Ted today. He sniffles when he catches himself leaking tears. 

“I thought you were dead”, he mumbles. A sob escapes him and Ted lets go off his hand, pulling him close instead. Henry sinks against him. 

“I’m here”, Ted whispers. “I’m here. I’m so sorry.” 

Henry clings to Ted, holding on to the feeling of his lean figure in his arms, his breath in his neck and his heart beating right against his chest. 

Henry looks up to him and their eyes meet and shortly after, so do their lips. 

Henry melts into Teds touch, reaching up to drop his hand on the back of Teds head, letting it sink into his hair. 

Henry pulls Ted closer and they stumble a little, hitting the wall. 

Teds lips leave Henrys at some point, wandering over the soft line of his jaw and down into the crook of his neck. 

“I want to date you”, Ted whispers against Henrys skin, “I want to commit.” 

Henry can’t help but smile. 

He pulls Ted into a close hug, kissing him when Ted looks up again. Slowly and a lot more intimately than they used to. 

Teds fingers trace Henrys brow, when he pulls back, watching him. 

“Would you want to give it a try?”, Ted asks. “Us?” 

“Yes”, Henry admits. 

“Me too.” 

“So..?” 

“So let’s give it a try.” 

Henry smiles, not even hiding how happy he is anymore. 

“Sure?” 

“More than sure.” 

“So you actually really like me?” 

It’s still a rather hard concept to grasp. Not only considering Teds way of living until now, but also considering the age difference and the fact that Henry grew to be rather self conscious about his own likability in the past years. 

“I fucking love you, man”, Ted whispers. 

Henry chuckles, feeling happy, feeling lightsome. He just watches Ted for a moment, still having to get used to this, somehow. The fact that Ted is alive and that he loves him. 

A smile forms on Teds lips, growing bigger the longer Henry stares at him. 

“Enjoying the few, Professor?” 

“So much.” 

Ted reaches for Henrys waist and pulls him close. 

Henry lets himself sink into a kiss and that’s when he can hear footsteps coming down the stairs. 

He quickly pushes Ted off and they both stare at Emma and Paul like a deer in the headlights. 

“This is the worst thing that happened today”, Emma claims. 

“Now that is very exaggerated”, Henry says. 

“We were gonna help you with those mattresses. I mean we don’t wanna disturb you-“ 

“Then don’t. We’re having a moment”, Ted cuts Emma off. 

Henry smiles, lightly shaking his head.

“Thank you Emma, for helping.” 

“How did this happen?”, she asks, in a state of utter confusion. 

“We met on your birthday”, Henry says. 

“And?” 

“Things happened.” 

Ted laughs quietly next to Henry and Emma frowns. 

“Okay, I suppose I don’t want the details?”

“You don’t”, Ted says. 

“You better treat him right”, Emma threatens. 

“Will give it my all”, Ted promises, his hands sneaking around Henrys waist once again. 

“Let’s get those mattresses upstairs!”, Paul then says and with that, the topic is dropped. 


End file.
